Golf ball retriever



/ Nov. 2, 1965 J. 1'. KELLY ETAL 3,215,293

GOLF BALL RETRIEVER Filed Feb. 6, 1964 INVENTOR John T. KeZ/y Fa H.Skafz'e/a United States Patent 3,215,293 GOLF BALL RETRIEVER John T.Kelly, 4840 Princess Anne Road, Virginia Beach, Va., and Ira H.Slcolield, Virginia Beach, Va. (Star Rte. 4, Sabino Bath, Maine) FiledFeb. 6, 1964, Ser. No. 342,957 4 Claims. (Cl. 214356) This invention isdirected to a device for gathering together ball-shaped objects and, inparticular, is directed to a device for retrieving practice golf ballsfrom a golf practice range.

Currently many golfers take a bucket or basket of anywhere fromtwenty-five to fifty balls to a practice tee in order to practice withvarious golf clubs. After the balls have been hit from the tee, thegolfer manually picks them up and returns them to the practice tee to beused again.

The object of this invention is to produce a device for gatheringtogether the golf balls on the practice range so that they can beretrieved in a bunch and returned to the practice tee without thenecessity of the golfer leaning over and manually picking up each ball.

In general, this and other objects of the invention are obtained bymeans of a rolling cylindrical cage having resilient wires forming thetread portion of the cage. These wires are spaced from each other adistance less than the diameter of the golf ball so that when the cageretriever is rolled over the golf ball, the ball will spring twoadjacent wires apart and slip into the interior of the cage. After thecage has picked up all of the practice balls, it can be emptied bysimply disengaging one of the resilient wires. The retriever is ofsimple inexpensive construction, of lightweight, and extremely effectivein retrieving practice golf balls.

The means by which the objects of the invention are obtained aredescribed more fully with respect to the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIGURE 1 is a front view of the retriever;

FIGURE 2 is a side view of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged detailed cross-sectional view showing theattachment of the resilient wires to the wheels of the retriever.

The retriever has the general form of a rollable cylindrical cage. Apair of wheels are. mounted on an ,axle 12, the ends of which arejournalled in a pair of arms 14, respectively, which are broughttogether to form a shaft 16 for pushing the retriever over the ground.

Each wheel 10 is formed as a solid disc composed of wood, metal or asynthetic plastic and has an annular row of holes 20 concentric withaxle 12. A slot 22 extends radially outward from each hole to theperiphery of the wheel. Resilient steel spring wires 24, preferablyhaving the same diameter as the width of slot 22, have spoke portions26, a part of which is coextensive with wheel 10 and a part of whichextends outwardly beyond the wheel, and the free ends 28 of which areinwardly bent and tightly held in the holes 20 in each wheel 10.Extending parallel to axle 12 and between the leg portion 6 of each wireis a cross-piece tread portion 30. The adjacent tread portions 30 arespaced circumferentially of the wheels a distance which is less than thediameter of the object being gathered. For example, an American golfball has a diameter of 1.68 inches, and in the retriever, adjacent treadportions 30 are spaced apart 0.75 inch.

In operation, the retriever is rolled over the surface of the ground bypushing on shaft 16. As the tread portions 30 pass over a ball, downwardpressure on the shaft 16 causes the tread portions 30 to be flexed andseparated by the ball, and the ball then snaps into the interior of theretriever. The slots 22 restrain the spoke portions 26 of the wireagainst displacement in a peripheral direction with respect to the wheelso that the resiliency of the wires 24 lies only in the unconfinedlength of the spoke portions 26 outwardly of the wheel 10 and in theflexure of the tread portions 30. After all the balls have been gatheredin the retriever, they can be emptied therefrom by pulling out one ofthe spoke portions 26 from the wheel 10 to form an opening sufiicientfor the passage of the balls. For this purpose, fabric tabs 32 aresecured to the spoke portions 26 of one of the resilient wires to serveas convenient finger grips for removing that wire from the wheels.

Having now described the means by which the objects of the invention areobtained,

We claim:

1. A ball retriever for gathering balls lying on a ground surfacecomprising a pair of spaced wheels joined by an axle, a plurality oftread forming steel spring wires attached to said wheels, each wirehaving spoke portions extending radially of and outwardly beyond eachwheel, respectively, and a cross-piece between said spoke portions andparallel to said axle, each cross-piece being spaced circumferentiallyof the wheels a distance slightly less than that of the balls to begathered and being sufficiently resilient to springover the surface of aball so that a ball can be gathered within the retriever, means forrestraining the parts of said spoke portions coextensive with the wheelsfrom movement in the peripheral direction of the wheels as balls arebeing gathered in the retriever, and shaft means secured to said axlefor pushing and rolling the retriever over the ground surface.

2. A ball retriever, as in claim 1, said means for restraining saidcoextensive parts of said spoke portions comprising a radially extendingslot in the side of each wheel for each spoke portion, and eachcoextensive part being seated in its respective slot.

3. A ball retriever as in claim 2, further comprising an inwardly bentend on each spoke portion held in a corresponding hole in each wheel.

4. A ball retriever as in claim 3, at least one of said spoke portionsbeing removably attached to a wheel for opening the retriever to emptygathered balls therefrom.

References Cited by the Examiner FOREIGN PATENTS 1,388 1/02 GreatBritain.

GERALD M. FORLENZA, Primary Examiner.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Examiner.

1. A BALL RETRIEVER FOR GATHERING BALLS LYING ON A GROUND SURFACECOMPRISING A PAIR OF SPACED WHEELS JOINED BY AN AXLE, A PLURALITY OFTREAD FORMING STEEL SPRING WIRES EXTENDING RADIALLY OF AND OUTWARDLYBEYOND EACH WHEEL, EXTENDING RADIALLY OF AND OUTWARDLY BEYOND EACHWHEEL, RESPECTIVELY, AND A CROSS-PIECE BETWEEN SAID SPOKE PORTIONS ANDPARALLEL TO SAID AXLE, EACH CROSS-PIECE BEING SPACED CIRCUMFERENTIALLYOF THE WHEELS A DISTANCE SLIGHTLY LESS THAN THAT OF THE BALLS TO BETATHERED AND BEING SUFFICIENTLY RESILIENT TO SPRINGOVER THE SURFACE OF ABALL SO THAT A BALL CAN BE GATHERED WITHIN THE RETRIEVER, MEANS FORRESTRAINING THE PARTS OF SAID SPOKE PORTIONS COEXTENSIVE WITH THE WHEELSFROM MOVEMENT IN THE PERIPHERAL DRIECTION OF THE WHEELS AS BALLS AREBEING GATHERED IN THE RETRIEVER, AND SHAFT MEANS SECURED TO SAID AXLEFOR PUSHING AND ROLLING THE RETRIEVER OVER THE GROUND SURFACE.